Finghin Collins - pianist
"The young Irish pianist Finghin Collins produced fresh and brilliant fingerwork in the C major Piano Concerto." (Mostly Mozart Festival/Barbican)
Hugh Canning, Sunday Times, July 2007
"Vol 1 of Finghin Collins's Schumann cycle is revelatory. in this young Irish pianist we have an artist (and I use the word advisedly) of rare poetic empathy, one with an uncanny and moving capacity to arrive at the still centre, the very heart, of Schumann's teeming and frenzied imagination."
Bryce Morrison, Gramophone Editor's Choice, October 2006
"On the second disc, Kinderszenen has just that quality of inner restraint, almost self-communion, that only the best Schumann players achieve. . . .This is a fine new release, and all Schumann enthusiasts should sit up and take notice of a rare talent."
Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review, July / August 2006
"In any case, the Irishman... confirmed on the stage of the Ferme St-Maurice the qualities already witnessed on his recent recording, completely devoted to Schumann (Claves). Firstly the Humoreske, whose seven pieces displayed the sensitivity of his touch (very beautiful ³Einfach² and ³Einfach und zart²) and a maturity which nourished all of the changes of mood and of register which characterize this work. ....Finghin Collins, lanky and shy though he seemed, let rip with precise, earthy playing [Liszt B minor Sonata] and, with surprising ease, he mastered all of the structural challenges of the piece."
Rocco Zacheo, Le Temps, Geneva, July 13th 2006
"The performance [Penderecki Sextet] packed a real punch, with Collins, on the top of his form, serving as a potent driving force..."
The Irish Times, July 4th 2006
"Playing in chamber music style, the Philharmonic Orchestra players tiptoed with feathered feet behind a wonderful Mozart soloist - Finghin Collins. The smart Irishman allowed the notes to sound utterly effortlessly, without ever forgetting to underline the sudden profound questions and tearful smiles that are so Mozartian. The Larghetto was the highlight of the concert..."
Kieler Nachrichten, Germany, June 26th 2006
"The opening bars signalled a roller-coaster performance, with Collins taking risks that threatened to break barriers of taste and speed, but never did. He coaxed meaning from the leanest textures and delivered Shostakovitch's range of parody - from Beethoven to honky-tonk - with panache"
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, June 6th 2006
"Finghin Collins was impressive and director-soloist in K459, bringing out interest in the orchestral writing as well as creating a lovely serenade in the slow movement."
Manchester Evening News , March 23rd 2006
"Intimacy is a word that captures Finghin Collins' approach to Concerto No. 27, which he performed with intense concentration and a velvet touch".
Belfast Newsletter, January 31st 2006
"But in the last of the 27 piano concertos, Finghin Collins was a valuable asset in revealing the poignancy of its opening, the fragile delicacy of its central larghetto and the bouncing gaiety of its finale."
Pat O'Kelly, Irish Independent, January 30th 2006
"The young Irish pianist Finghin Collins already seduced the public in Hagen's Stadthalle with Mozart in the year 2002. Now Collins shows again that he is one of the most promising piano discoveries of our time. He brings a real glow to Bartok's sounds, particularly in the great middle movement, and at the same time he is well able to combine the pounding motor of the piece (with its echoes of jazz) with the more poetic moments. Moreover, Finghin Collins is a soloist who communicates with the orchestra in a fully alert way. At the end of the first movement Collins listens almost breathlessly to the bird song in the solo flute and then takes up the melody on the piano, finding marvellous tension in the final chord: an enchanting and truly gripping moment of music."
Monika Willer, Westfalenpost, December 14th 2005
"With the 28-year-old Dublin pianist Finghin Collins the audience got to know a young, talented and committed musician, who interpreted Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 with abandon. He identified completely with this 60-year-old, clearly organised music, which develops sometimes tangy harmonies with exotic sounds. Cantabile woodwind entries, splendid trumpet solos and delicate flute passages were interwoven with the sharply rhythmic profile of the soloist's cascading octaves. The choral-like visionary middle movement was characterized by a ripe, expressive meditation, which convinced with its natural, subtle virtuosity."
Westfälische Rundschau, December 14th 2005
"In the introductory cadenza, Collins turned the mood with exactly the right blend of solemnity and good humour. Nor was there any hint of the meretricious in his clear and urbane contributions to the ensuing variations and hymn.. this was a performance that made Beethoven's optimism all the more irresistibly uplifting".
Andrew Johnstone, The Irish Times, November 7th 2005
"Finghin Collins proved to be an absolute revelation.. The youthful spirit of the works.. found in Collins a congenial interpreter, recreating the music on the same level of emotion... He took the outer movements of the Sonata [K. 457 by Mozart] con brio: he seems in general to be a 'con-brio-pianist', who prefers quick forward-moving tempos, though he doesn't lose any of the clarity or nuances in his performance... The highlight of the evening were Schumann's "Fantasy Pieces op. 12". Collins brought a poetic reading to the variety of colours and characters in this music, and also had real feeling for the typically Schumannesque soulful counterpoint of the polyphonic material.."
Claus Regnault, Ebersberger Süd-Deutsche Zeitung, October 15th 2005
"... the highlight of the trios was Bartók's Contrasts.. is is a serious test of musical and technical mettle. On this occasion the outer movements made all the impact they should. In the middle movement the musicians captured the sinister ambiguities that run through this composer's night-music style. ."
Martin Adams, The Irish Times, September 20th 2005
"In Mendelssohn's Sonata Opus 58 [Marc Coppey] found in Finghin Collins a partner with a clear and luminous touch, the perfect spiritual match.... With perfect cohesion, the duo assimilated very well the composite style of Shostakovitch's Sonata Opus 40.."
Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, September 12th 2005
"A young Irish pianist at the dawn of a promising international career, Finghin Collins.. defended the work [Schumann Humoreske] with energy, spirit and intelligence, adapting himself with pleasure to the constantly changing climate... "
Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, September 11th 2005
"The first weekend [of the Delft Chamber Music Festival] was distinguished to an significant extent by two very promising talents... the Irish pianist Finghin Collins provided many fascinating insights, particularly in Schumann's Papillons. And the young soprano Lenneke Ruiten gave a complete display of her powers..."
Frits van der Waa, de Volkskrant, August 1st 2005
"The two pianists were Dearbhla and Finghin Collins, who played with admirable poise and excellent ensemble..."
Michael Dervan, The Irish Times, July 18th 2005
"The Irish pianst Finghin Collins enveloped the intrinsically melancholic pieces in almost late Romantic colours. His polished attack and the economic use of pedal lent colour to the three miniatures as well as dynamism to the more powerful sections."
Pfälzischer Merkur, June 25th 2005
"Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3 in C is the work that won Irish pianist Finghin Collins a major international competition in 1999. He certainly won the vote of his North-East audience, plus several ovations and an encore, with a powerfully driven performance."
Thomas Hall, The Newcastle Journal, April 2005
"Gentle Collins is the real poet. He brought subtle and pastel colours into the concerto's otherwise metallic atmosphere. Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto's jazz rhythms and melodies were gently mingled..[there was] affinity to the beautiful details, which are always the most eloquent and impressive in music.."
Evi Arujärv, Postimees, Estonia, February 2005